Israeli warplanes strike south Lebanon

Israeli warplanes have struck what the army alleges were Hizb Allah anti-aircraft batteries in southern Lebanon, causing no casualties.

20 Jun 2004 21:41 GMT

The incident was the latest flareup on the border

Hizb Allah television station al-Manar said the planes struck Talat al-Jamus hill in southwestern Lebanon on Sunday evening.

The hill is the site of a former military base used by the Israeli occupation army until it withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

Lebanese residents said they heard several explosions. A security source in Beirut said nobody was hurt in the strike.

The Israeli army issued a statement in Jerusalem saying the airforce attacked Hizb Allah gunners that had fired a salvo of anti-aircraft shells into northern Israel earlier in the day.

"Following the Hizb Allah attack, the Israeli air force targeted and destroyed a Hizb Allah outpost in the western sector of southern Lebanon, from which a canon was used to fire on northern Israel...under the guise of anti-aircraft fire," the statement claimed.

A Hizb Allah statement, however, denied that any of its positions had been struck.

Violating air space

The army accused Hizb Allah of deliberately firing anti-aircraft shells at a low trajectory into Israel in order to attack its citizens. A teenager was killed in such a strike last year, the army claimed.

Hizb Allah has said the salvos are aimed at Israeli warplanes that have violated Lebanese air space.

The incident was the latest flareup on the Israeli-Lebanese border in recent days.

On 8 June, Hizb Allah struck Israeli positions in the occupied Shebaa Farms area, a day after Israeli warplanes raided a Palestinian base near Beirut.

That strike followed what Israel called an attempt by Lebanese fighters to target its naval craft.